I was talking about sidewalk traffic with a native New Yorker the other day…because it can be a little crazy at times. People weave all over the sidewalk and it sometimes seems as if there’s absolutely no order AT ALL! What’s up with walking on the right and passing on the left?

Some people are looking at the sights, trying to navigate their way around or just searching out a place to eat….

Others are texting or talking and in their own little world.

What fascinated me is that my friend admitted he didn’t know, until he was 44 years old, that in most US cities people walk on the right side of the sidewalk. So in his case, he didn’t even know the “rules” for pedestrians.

So it makes me think of us, as entrepreneurs. Some of us have our heads down, focused on on thing and totally missing out on what’s going on around us.

Others have our antennaes up… on the lookout for the new opportunities.

And others… who just don’t know “the rules”… but have made it this far… maybe inconveniencing others along the way at times… but not intending to do harm.

I’m not suggesting any one of those is good or bad… I just think they’re phases we cycle through at various stages of our business.

Keep your head down too long and you miss opportunities.

Keep looking at the tall buildings and miss what’s going on right in front of your face.

Break the rules and shake things up whether you’re aware of it or not.

I know that I always have a little of the “don’t know the rules” thing going on… which is good. That’s how ‘treps blaze new trails for others.

I just got through the “tall building” phase with a lot of people approaching me about joint projects and trying to figure out how that fits into my own Biztruth activities… and now it’s time to spend more time “heads down” to focus, follow through and deliver.

Last week I talked about the saying “confidence breeds success” and asked if it’s really “success that breeds confidence…which breeds more success”.

Today I’m coming at it from another angle and that is how “preparation breeds confidence…which breeds success”.

In my first business I had the good fortune of launching nearly 100 businesses which created a very comfortable income and lifestyle.

I was extremely confident in what I could do for my clients… which brought me success.

But I didn’t start out confident. In some areas, I felt overwhelmed and unclear and quite frankly, lost.

That success…and that confidence came from getting the help from a team of amazing coaches and mentors who helped me get my ducks in a row and ultimately build my confidence, one prospect at a time.

In short, it required a LOT of preparation.

What are you doing to build your success and ultimately, your confidence?

What steps do you take to prepare yourself for success?

Who’s in your line-up of mentors and coaches?

What are you doing to prove to yourself that you are taking your business seriously?

The measuring stick of success in business is sales. If you don’t have sales, you don’t have clients. If you don’t have clients, you’re not doing your “thing” and changing people’s lives for the better.

So start with the necessary sales preparation:

Define exactly who your ideal client is.

Get clear on how to articulate your value in your ideal prospect’s terms.

And establish a line of questioning that helps you guide your sales conversations so that you feel confident enough to make sales calls… so you enjoy success.

If you’re not sure where to start your preparation as it relates to sales, apply for a private sales confidence strategy session with me by going to: http://thebiztruth.com/strategy

Let’s explore what your biggest challenge is with sales and what you can do to have a confidence breakthrough.

I actually wonder if it’s the other way around…that success breeds confidence (which breeds more success).

Let’s break it down.

Confidence is having belief in your abilities. Being sure of yourself.

Breed is to produce, cause or be the source of.

Success is the favorable outcome of something attempted. HINT: In business, that’s called a sale.

So ‘confidence breeds success’ means:

Being sure that you can produce a favorable outcome of something you attempt.

That’s great…but what happens when you don’t have a favorable outcome but you thought you would? Does that mean you’re not successful or that you were wrong to be confident?

I’ve been confident about my ability in things before but wasn’t successful at it.

What if we flip this around:

Success breeds confidence (which breeds more success).

That would sound like:

A favorable outcome of something you attempt is the source of belief in your own abilities… which produces more favorable outcomes.

I’ll tell you from my own experience of when I started my first business 9 years ago that although I had confidence-building successes to build upon from my corporate career, TRUE confidence didn’t come until I had a consistent stream of successes in my new business…and then, because I was so confident in my abilities… that attracted even more clients and success.

I want to know what you think. Post your comments on your perspective on whether confidence breeds success or does success breed confidence (which breeds more success)?